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IBM label India as biggest spam nation

A new report from technology giants IBM has revealed that India has overtaken America to become the largest contributor to global spam levels, contributing a massive 16% of the world’s total.

Email spam has been a persistent online security problem since the widespread uptake of the net, with India’s phenomenal rise in unwanted email production increasing in line with its number of active web users. India has seen an impressive 25% increase in the number of those connected to the internet, representing a huge amount of growth in the potential market for advertisers and cyber criminals.

The report also touched on a wide number of online security issues, including the growing threat to mobile users downloading unscrupulous apps or connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks. This threat has become a major concern for businesses, with the increasing tendency of companies to allow their employees to bring their own devices to work. Potentially sensitive information can be put at risk when tablets and smartphones are used for personal reasons. In response to this, IBM suggests that business owners implement a comprehensive security system before considering the use of personal devices at work, although this advice has largely been ignored to date.

Online security is set to become a hot topic for 2013, with a growth in the number of smartphone owners and tablet users deciding to ignore basic security methods, combined with the often lax screening procedures of mobile stores such as Google Play. The screening of mobile apps has come under particular scrutiny in recent weeks, with Android owners finding themselves at risk of malware infection from malicious apps that take control of an individual’s device.

In response to the growing number of online security threats facing world in 2013, security companies have been devising ever more sophisticated methods of keeping desktop and mobile devices secure. A VPN service is one of the most simple and easy to use security methods, providing an extra layer of privacy to your net connection. This is especially useful when connecting to an unsecured Wi-Fi network. A VPN service is easy to set up and extremely affordable, making it a viable option for anyone concerned about their online security.